A village has come together at an "emergency" planning meeting to object to revised plans to build 47 new homes in their community.
Warboys Parish Council hosted the special meeting on February 27 and voted to recommend to Huntingdonshire District Council (HDC) that the plans for 47 new affordable dwellings to be built in Warboys, off Station Road, be rejected.
The Longhurst Group, a housing development company, had amended their plans to erect 47, reduced from 48, new homes in Warboys, with HDC giving the parish council a 21-day deadline to comment and respond by March 2.
Greg Sewell, a member of the Green not Grey - Station Road development opposition group, was at the meeting and told The Hunts Post: "The meeting went really well, and I'm trying to feel as positive as possible.
"However, with how narrow-minded the district council is being, it feels like they're only in this for the money, not in it for the actual community and the residents.
"I fear that they are trying to just push this through come what May."
A Warboys Parish councillor said at the meeting that if the village and community can submit as many letters, if not more, than the 400 submitted last year, it would put significant pressure on HDC.
READ MORE: Opposition group to fight plans for new homes in village
The opposition group are working tirelessly to submit as many as possible, and Mr Sewell said they have 800 letters with envelopes that can be collected from 107 Station Road and edited to return to the group for them to deliver to HDC by Thursday (March 2).
Currently, the group have received nearly 200 letters of objection, prepared and ready to submit.
What are the objections?
Cheffins, a specialist planning consultancy who were hired to assess Longhurst's application, were also at the meeting, and Mr Sewell said: "They [Cheefins] highlighted that as much as Longhurst Group has submitted an alternative set of plans, in their mind, these new plans do not fulfil or meet any of the objections laid out by the community."
He added that Cheffins believed key planning pieces were omitted and the community's concerns were disregarded, "brushed under the carpet."
READ MORE: 'Emergency' planning meeting to discuss plans for 47 new homes in village
Residents are against the plans for several reasons, including the pressures more housing and an added population will put on local infrastructure, such as schools, dentists, doctors and parking.
Residents also say that the road is already extremely busy, and some people park on the opposite side of the road, meaning getting in and out and driving is going to be "absolute chaos" if potentially 100 additional vehicles populate the area.
But, before the meeting, Mr Sewell said the number one objection is that Longhurst plans to build on viable agricultural land that should be retained for agricultural use, which, if built on, would breach policies within Huntingdonshire Local Plan 2019.
However, in Longhurst's revised planning statement, they said the majority of the site, on the western side, is considered to be within the built-up area, as defined within the Local Plan.
Cheffins, however, say that the site is predominantly Grade 2 Agricultural Land, meaning the site should be retained for agricultural use if possible.
Mr Sewell said Cheffins added that because HDC owns the land, there is a potential conflict of interest, making it difficult for the district council to hold an unbiased view when examining the plans.
After the deadline to respond, the planning documents and objections will go in front of the inspectorate and planning committee, with a planning meeting to be announced at a later date.
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